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RETIREMENT PLANS | 3 Months Ended
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Mar. 31, 2019
RETIREMENT PLANS [Abstract] |
RETIREMENT PLANS |
(14) | RETIREMENT PLANS
The Company sponsors a defined benefit plan for its inland vessel personnel and shore based tankermen. The plan benefits are based on an employee’s years of service and compensation. The plan assets consist primarily of equity and fixed income securities. On April 12, 2017, the Company amended its pension plan to cease all benefit accruals for periods after May 31, 2017 for certain participants. Participants grandfathered and not impacted were those, as of the close of business on May 31, 2017, who either (a) had completed 15 years of pension service or (b) had attained age 50 and completed 10 years of pension service. Participants non-grandfathered are eligible to receive discretionary 401(k) plan contributions. The Company did not incur any one-time charges related to this amendment but the pension plan’s projected benefit obligation decreased by $33,433,000. The Company’s pension plan funding strategy is to make annual contributions in amounts equal to or greater than amounts necessary to meet minimum government funding requirements. The plan’s benefit obligations are based on a variety of demographic and economic assumptions, and the pension plan assets’ returns are subject to various risks, including market and interest rate risk, making an accurate prediction of the pension plan contribution difficult. Based on current pension plan assets and market conditions, the Company does not expect to make a contribution to the Kirby pension plan during 2019. On February 14, 2018, with the acquisition of Higman Marine, Inc. and its affiliated companies (“Higman”), the Company assumed Higman’s pension plan for its inland vessel personnel and office staff. On March 27, 2018, the Company amended the Higman pension plan to close it to all new entrants and cease all benefit accruals for periods after May 15, 2018 for all participants. The Company did not incur any one-time charges related to this amendment but the Higman pension plan’s projected benefit obligation decreased by $3,081,000. The Company made contributions of $1,615,000 to the Higman pension plan in the first quarter of 2019 for the 2018 plan year. The Company expects to make additional contributions of $1,449,000 to the Higman pension plan during 2019 for the 2019 plan year. The Company sponsors an unfunded defined benefit health care plan that provides limited postretirement medical benefits to employees who meet minimum age and service requirements, and to eligible dependents. The plan limits cost increases in the Company’s contribution to 4% per year. The plan is contributory, with retiree contributions adjusted annually. The plan eliminated coverage for future retirees as of December 31, 2011. The Company also has an unfunded defined benefit supplemental executive retirement plan (“SERP”) that was assumed in an acquisition in 1999. That plan ceased to accrue additional benefits effective January 1, 2000. The components of net periodic benefit cost for the Company’s defined benefit plans for the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018 were as follows (in thousands):
|  | Pension Benefits |
|  | Pension Plan |  |  | SERP |
|  | Three months ended March 31, |  |  | Three months ended March 31, |
Components of net periodic benefit cost: |  | 2019 |  |  | 2018 |  |  | 2019 |  |  | 2018 |
Service cost |  | $ | 1,768 |  |  | $ | 2,227 |  |  | $ | — |  |  | $ | — |
Interest cost |  |  | 4,207 |  |  |  | 3,631 |  |  |  | 13 |  |  |  | 12 |
Expected return on plan assets |  |  | (5,224 | ) |  |  | (5,323 | ) |  |  | — |  |  |  | — |
Amortization of actuarial loss |  |  | 678 |  |  |  | 705 |  |  |  | 7 |  |  |  | 6 |
Net periodic benefit cost |  | $ | 1,429 |  |  | $ | 1,240 |  |  | $ | 20 |  |  | $ | 18 |
The components of net periodic benefit cost for the Company’s postretirement benefit plan for the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018 were as follows (in thousands):
|  | Other Postretirement Benefits |
|  | Postretirement Welfare Plan |
|  | Three months ended March 31, |
|  | 2019 |  |  | 2018 |
Components of net periodic benefit cost: |  |  |  |  |  |
Service cost |  | $ | — |  |  | $ | — |
Interest cost |  |  | 8 |  |  |  | 6 |
Amortization of actuarial gain |  |  | (135 | ) |  |  | (149 | )
Net periodic benefit cost |  | $ | (127 | ) |  | $ | (143 | )

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- Definition The entire disclosure for pension and other postretirement benefits. + References Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 715 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/topic&trid=2235017 + Details
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